


i miss you

by mabufus



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Game Spoilers, spoilers for october
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-01
Updated: 2014-05-01
Packaged: 2018-01-21 13:40:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1552445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mabufus/pseuds/mabufus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akihiko goes to the same place every night, only making one small detour at the flower shop at Port Island Station. He gets the usual single, white rose and then heads out on his way. He calls it a detour, but really, it's a mere 30 seconds away. To Akihiko though, it feels like an eternity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i miss you

**Author's Note:**

> this game is killing me

Akihiko goes to the same place every night, only making one small detour at the flower shop at Port Island Station. He gets the usual single, white rose and then heads out on his way. He calls it a detour, but really, it's a mere 30 seconds away. To Akihiko though, it feels like an eternity.

By the short time that he gets there, the thorny stem of the rose has been pulled apart and strewn across the ground. _He deserves only the purist of roses_ , Akihiko thought.

The punks who linger on the outskirts always ignore Akihiko. At first though, they watched him like he was a little child getting ready to do something miraculous. When Akihiko noticed this it only took one of his glares for them to leave him in some much needed peace.

He didn't do much while he was there. For a few minutes in absolute silence, he would just sit on the ground. Akihiko remembers exactly where it happened. He would never forget. He would pat the ground a few times before letting out a loud sigh. Usually, he held it in all day until he got there, in fear of falling apart right on the spot if anyone were to hear him.

Sometimes he would tell him how everyone in S.E.E.S was doing. There was always something to report about a thing that Junpei did, and Akihiko always found himself letting out a little smile when he talked about it. Things always got eerily silent when he mentioned Ken. And when that did happen, Akihiko would clear his throat and begin talking about another member of their club. Out of all of them, he talked about Mitsuru the most. He always avoided what happened long ago when talking about those almost simpler times. Akihiko tells him that he wants nothing more than to go back to when it was just the three of them. He chuckles to himself. It was too late for that. Akihiko knew that. He's always known.

When Akihiko is done talking, he gets up, the rose still carefully in his gloved hands. He starts to leave the outskirts, but stops short at the chain-link fence. He fits the rose into one of the holes and carefully situates it so it doesn't fall out.

“ _Don't touch it,_ ” Akihiko says sternly. He hears one of the punks go 'mhm' in reply. He doesn't look back. There's no need to. He starts to leave again.

When Akihiko arrives back at the dorm, he is greeted with warm smiles from his friends. It's not the normal kind of warm, though; it's the 'we hope you feel better soon' kind of warm. It seems that no matter how many times he tells them all that he's fine, they just won't listen and continue on with their comforting smiles. Mitsuru understands the most out of all of them. Akihiko supposes he's thankful in a way. He knows that there are people who will always have his back, no matter what.

The next night when Akihiko arrives at the outskirts, his rose without the stem in hand, he notices a small, familiar figure on his knees with his lips almost touching the ground. It almost looks like the figure is whispering. As Akihiko grew closer to them, he was ready to confirm his suspicions; Ken.

Ken doesn't notice Akihiko at first and continues on with what he's doing.

“Hey, Shinjiro-san,” Ken whispers quietly. His voice is broken. “I know I always come here and say the same thing, but...I'm still so, so sorry. I took you away from the people you cared about most because of my foolish actions.”

Akihiko doesn't react. He just stands behind Ken and lets the boy finish. He'll admit though that he's surprised. How long has Ken been doing this? Who's letting him out late at night? He was sure S.E.E.S didn't want a repeat of last time.

“Hey, kid,” Akihiko says.

The small boy jumps. He turns to his senpai, rubbing his hands furiously against his eyes.

Against the light of the streetlamp, Akihiko can see that his face is a pure red. He kneels down next to Ken, laying a supporting hand on his shoulder.

“What are you doing out at this time of night? Shinji wouldn't want you being out this late, you know.”

“It doesn't matter anymore, does it?” It's not really a question, but Akihiko takes it as one anyways.

“It does. Because he told me to watch over you. And that's what I'm going to do, Ken.”

Between the sniffles and rubbing of his nose, Akihiko can faintly hear, “Oh, so you're just taking care of me because the man I almost killed said to? Is that it? You guys don't even care about me, do you? Now I'm just a little kid who almost killed someone.”

“Stop that, Ken. You're acting like a little kid right now. If that's how you want to be treated, then so be it. But if not, then come back to the dorm with me, okay? You could get hurt, and _none_ of us want that.” Akihiko's voice was surprisingly stern, to the point where even he was a little shocked. Was he too harsh on the kid? He really _was_ a little kid after all. But then again, he acted more mature than any other eleven year-old Akihiko knew.

Ken nods, wiping the sleeve of his school uniform across his nose one more time before looking at Akihiko. “I understand,” he says. “Let's go.”

Akihiko smiles and helps Ken up.

The two begin to walk together in silence, until finally Ken speaks.

“U-Um, Sanada-san?” He stops walking. They're right out front of the dorm now.

“Yeah?” Akihiko stops, too.

Ken takes in a deep breath. “Don't tell anyone I was crying, okay?” He lowers his head shamefully.

Akihiko pats him on the back and gives him another smile. “I won't, kid.”

“A-And also...can we go visit Shinjiro-san tomorrow, together?”

“Yeah,” Akihiko says. “we can do that.”


End file.
